Trump made the comments during the Eagles’ visit to the White House on Monday to celebrate their Super Bowl victory earlier this year.

3 President Donald Trump greets Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley at an event welcoming the 2025 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles on the South Lawn of the White House on April 28, 2025. Getty Images

However, Giants vice president of communications Pat Hanlon refuted it to Front Office Sports, telling the outlet that “there were no conversations” that took place between the President and the Giants regarding Barkley.

Hanlon had told the outlet “no,” when they asked if he could confirm that any conversation had taken place or if the team would be making a statement.

FOS also reported that Hanlon then directed them to a post he made on his personal X account.

“With all due respect, stop yapping. Be the leader we all want you to be. And my 401K wants you to be. I’m trying to retire!!” he wrote on the social media platform while tagging Trump.

The president had originally talked about a conversation he had with the Giants about Barkley earlier in the day.

“I was with the Giants and the head coach and some people and I said, ‘Do anything you have to, but don’t lose Saquon.’” Trump said. “They lost Saquon. That was not good. I called that one. That was an easy one to call because he played damn well for the Giants, I can tell you that.”

Barkley left the Giants last offseason and signed with their biggest rivals, the Eagles, immediately leading the Birds to a Super Bowl championship in his first year in Philly.

The running back signed a two-year, $41.2 million contract extension last month with the Eagles.

3 President Donald Trump speaks during an event celebrating the Eagles, the 2025 Super Bowl Champions, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC on Monday, April 28, 2025. Bonnie Cash/UPI/Shutterstock

3 Eagles running back Saquon Barkley (26) and New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll after football game at MetLife Stadium, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024 in East Rutherford, N.J. Noah K. Murray-NY Post

Trump had heaped loads of praise on Barkley during the White House ceremony after having spent the day with the NFL star on Sunday, golfing at his course in Bedminster, New Jersey, before hitching a ride to Washington D.C. with the president on Air Force One later in the day.

Barkley had been criticized by people on social media for spending time with the Trump, and he fired back at them on Monday, posting on X, “Maybe I just respect the office, not a hard concept to understand.”

WASHINGTON — The fact that a mere “um” uttered by the quarterback was of more than passing interest signaled that the Eagles’ visit to the White House wasn’t going to be the typical winners-go-to-Washington photo opportunity.

And it wasn’t. The first person that President Donald Trump summoned to the podium during the ceremony on Monday under a pristine April blue sky wasn’t the owner, coach, or a future Hall of Famer, but “Big Dom” DiSandro, the Eagles’ legendary director of security, whom he hailed as a supporter.

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Trump also weighed in on a controversy — albeit unrelated to the immigration order he was due to sign later in the day that could have financial impacts on Philadelphia. He endorsed the Eagles’ patented “Tush Push,” which the NFL might ban.

As it turned out, a central Tush Push figure, quarterback Jalen Hurts — who got a shout-out from Trump anyway — was among the players who had “scheduling conflicts” and passed on the opportunity to meet the president.

Conversely, Eagles superstar Saquon Barkley opted to run with it.

Generating buzz that rivaled the reaction to his backward leap over a Jacksonville Jaguars defender in November — referenced by Trump during the ceremony — Barkley golfed with Trump on Sunday and flew on Air Force One to Washington in advance of the ceremony.

Barkley became a target of outrage on social media, with one media critic suggesting that the running back’s head had wandered into the wrong part of his anatomy.

But Barkley blithely responded on X, “Maybe I just respect the office, not a hard concept to understand. Just golfed with [former President Barack] Obama not too long ago.”

» READ MORE: Eagles star Saquon Barkley reacts to critics after hanging with Donald Trump, flying on Air Force One

The Eagles represent a city in which 80% of those who cast ballots in the November election voted against Trump.

Philadelphia also has traditionally been a so-called “sanctuary city,” and the visit coincided with what was a major immigration-enforcement-themed day at the White House.

Following the Eagles celebration, Trump signed an executive order directing the Homeland Security and Attorney General’s offices to identify “sanctuary jurisdictions” that they deem obstruct federal immigration enforcement. Those cities or counties could see federal funding pulled or face lawsuits.

Given that the definition of “sanctuary” has varied, it was unclear how the administration would determine which places fit the category.

On Monday morning, large posters with the mug shots of undocumented immigrants who have been arrested or deported were plastered across the White House lawn.

At a news conference, reporters were handed packets of 100 Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests with details on the people detained and the crimes they were accused or convicted of.

ICE head Tom Homan touted the drop in border crossings and tamp down on illegal immigration. There also was a brief mention of the celebration to come.

“The president is welcoming the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles,” said press secretary Karoline Leavitt, “if we have any Philly fans.”

They did show up later for the actual celebration.

As the event was getting started, the Marine Band played the Rocky theme (what else?). The crowed included a real-life Rocky, Vince Papale, a former Eagles player who became a folk hero. Also in the crowd were Mehmet Oz, U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, Kellyanne Conway, and a noticeable lack of Democrats.

Earlier in the day, the Eagles entourage toured Arlington National Cemetery and visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

It was not immediately clear how many players besides Hurts passed up the trip, but among notable absentees were wide receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, and the retiring Brandon Graham, who spent his entire career with the Eagles.

» READ MORE: Jalen Hurts and other Eagles did not attend the White House celebration with Donald Trump

Among those who gave brief remarks were Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and six-time All-Pro offensive lineman Lane Johnson.

In endorsing the embattled Tush Push, in which the quarterback gets pushed from behind the surging offensive line when a team needs short yardage, Trump said, “I hope they keep that play.”

Hurts had been sheepish about his plans. Asked Thursday at the Time 100 event if he would participate in the ceremony, he answered with an evasive “Um,” and moved to end the interview.

After the franchise’s first Super Bowl championship in 2018, the Eagles became what is believed to be the first NFL title winner to have a White House invitation rescinded after several players spoke critically of Trump.

In his remarks on Monday, Lurie recalled how, when he was younger, he enjoyed seeing Super Bowl-winning teams visit the White House.

He added that he never dreamed that his turn would come.

John Killion, a Floridian and Mayfair expatriate, managed to score a ticket to the event thanks to his son, who had worked on the Trump campaign in Bucks County. He praised Lurie, who has been a generous donor to Democratic candidates.

“I know he isn’t politically aligned with Trump, but I’m glad he saw past it,” Killion said. “Some of us are [for] Trump, and some aren’t, but this is a special thing for us to see our team and our fans … at the White House. It doesn’t happen that often.”

Actually, this was the first time.

It’s bad enough the NFL makes you wait until May before “announcing” its schedule.

It’s bad enough the NFL leaks a smattering of games to its TV partners, dangling the carrot so delicately above the rabid masses instead of one giant bucket dump.

Now comes the league’s ultimate cold-shoulder: having the Eagles open their 2025 season against the Cowboys.

The defending Super Bowl champions and a team that, by season’s end, will celebrate it’s 30th straight year of not winning a Super Bowl will square off at 8:20 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 4, at the Linc. The game will be broadcast nationally on NBC, which is why NBC’s “Today Show” was given the opportunity to – ahem – “leak” the season opener. (What a scoop! Wonder who let the cat outta that bag…)

The actual schedule still won’t be announced until 8 p.m. Wednesday night, because it just might’ve been a little too nuts for the league to announce the full slate on Sept. 3 — but, hey, let’s not put that idea past them next year.

Anyway, the Cowboys, the Eagles’ most hated NFC East rivals, are not only an unideal opponent for Week 1, but their appearance in the game is actually a sign of the league giving too much respect to its downtrodden Golden Goose franchise and not nearly enough respect for the franchise that just won its second title in its third Super Bowl appearance in the past eight years.

You might have heard this once or twice, but the Cowboys haven’t won a Super Bowl since 1995, which means that nearly all their casual fans – which is like 80 percent of their base – weren’t yet born or were just really thrilled that Super Bowl Sunday didn’t coincide with a “Donna Martin Graduates!” rerun of 90210.

The Cowboys are 5-14 in playoff games since that Super Bowl, including 0-6 in the NFC Divisional round. Last year, Dallas finished 7-10, missing out on the opportunity to once again suffer an early postseason exit by altogether missing the playoffs for the first time in four years.

The league’s marquee season opener is supposed to feature the defending Super Bowl champs against an opponent that’s either on the rise or seen as a somewhat of an equivalent in the contender landscape.

The Cowboys last year were swept by the Eagles, losing by a combined point margin of 62 points – like a Week 2 college football game.

Last year’s opener pitted the Chiefs, coming off their 2023 Super Bowl win over the Eagles, against the Ravens, who featured a two-time league MVP quarterback and a head coach who’s won a Super Bowl. The Ravens had played the Chiefs in the conference championship the prior offseason, losing 17-10.

When they met last year on the opening Thursday night, the Ravens trailed by 10 in the fourth and nearly rallied back until official replay of the game’s final play determined that a minuscule piece of Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely’s cleat had scraped the back line of the end zone, negating a game-tying touchdown catch.

Imagine if the league had instead scheduled the Raiders against the Chiefs. That’s essentially what this Eagles-Cowboys matchup amounts to.

Show me any expert’s current “NFL Power Rankings” outside of DFW that has the Cowboys in the NFL’s top 10.

The Eagles aren’t the only NFC East team getting slighted here. A much more worthy division opponent would’ve been the Washington Commanders, who actually beat the Eagles once last year during the regular season, and who miraculously landed in the NFC Championship about a century ahead of schedule thanks to new ownership, a new coaching staff, and hitting on a franchise quarterback in Jayden Daniels.

The Commanders, who this season added a five-time Pro Bowl left tackle and Pro Bowl wideout, are far bigger threats on paper than Dallas to dethrone the Eagles.

In fact, the Eagles’ schedule in 2025 is so loaded with contenders and 2024 playoff teams that other opponents would’ve been better fits, including the Commanders, Rams and Lions.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that Eagles-Cowboys will lack viewership, excitement, or its typical trash-talk about the trophy case. (By the way, did ya know the Cowboys have won five Super Bowls??? Yes, grandpa, thanks for the reminder. Back to nap time…)

But that’s just the point. This game doesn’t have to be the season opener for optimum ratings, enthusiasm and an entire week of “cockroaches” being the most-said word on Philly sports-talk radio.

The Eagles and Cowboys could play in parking lot on Saturn in mid-July and millions of people would still watch.

You have to wonder just how small Jerry Jones has been feeling lately as the Eagles and Commanders have gotten more attention for the league to throw him the world’s largest pity party by granting his team entry into a spotlight that it didn’t deserve.

Eagles-Cowboys is best when it comes later in the season – one game in the middle, one in late December. It’s better when there’s some buildup and the game takes on extra importance in the standings.

The Cowboys have a new coach in Brian Schottenheimer, new defensive coordinator in Matt Eberflus, are expecting a healthy bounce-back from Dak Prescott, and just traded for a really talented (albeit enigmatic) wideout in George Pickens, but they still have no run game, a questionable secondary and haven’t stopped the run since the Bush Administration (the first one).

They drafted decently and could – emphasis on could – be a playoff team if the ball bounces their way, but if I were calling the shots, they wouldn’t be on the other side when the Eagles open the 2025 season.

But, hey, if I were in charge, the schedule would’ve come out eight weeks ago and this discussion would’ve been old news.

Follow Geoff on Twitter/X: @geoffpmosher

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The Philadelphia Eagles are getting little respect from a projection model forecasting who will capture the Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl 60 this upcoming season.

According to The Athletic, Austin Mock’s NFL Projection Model predicts the Baltimore Ravens will win the Super Bowl with 11.9% odds, while the Eagles rank fourth with a 7.8% chance. This, despite being the reigning Super Bowl champs.

The Eagles even have worse odds than the team they beat in Super Bowl 59 in the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Athletic ran the simulation 100,000 times to generate realistic predictions.

The top 10 Super Bowl favorites break down like this:

“The numbers aren’t as hot for the defending Super Bowl champions. The Philadelphia Eagles have ‘only’ a 7.8 percent chance to hoist the Lombardi Trophy per the model, the fourth-highest mark in the NFL,” write The Athletic’s Jeff Howe and Austin Mock.

They continued: “It’s not a disrespectful outlook, but we know they won’t see it that way in Philly. The Eagles are still set up for success with their key components returning, and there are major questions with their greatest conference competition in 2024 — the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings — but it’s not easy to repeat. The Kansas City Chiefs can attest to that.”

If the model proves accurate, two-time NFL MVP Lamar Jackson will claim his first Super Bowl victory. Jackson has never appeared in the big game, advancing only as far as the AFC Championship. The Ravens also topped the model with the most projected wins at 11.

“The Ravens have won 25 regular-season games over the past two seasons, with quarterback Lamar Jackson winning an MVP in 2023 and nearly claiming the award again in 2024,” note Howe and Mock. “They get electric play out of the most important position, still have their core in place and will be well-coached. Expect the Ravens to be a force once again next season.”

Baltimore finished 12-5 last season before losing in heartbreaking fashion to the Bills in the Divisional Round of the playoffs, 27-25. The 2012 squad was the last time a Ravens team hoisted the Lombardi Trophy.

Conversely, very little attention is given to incumbent Super Bowl champions and their respective draft night decisions. Looking over the last 10 reigning champions, it’s easy to see why. The results have been mostly uninspiring to the point where the best first-round move didn’t even involve drafting a player, while the worst one was a trade up for a seemingly forgotten quarterback bust.

For each team, we will also look at the best pick for that season.

2024 Kansas City Chiefs: Xavier Worthy, WR, Texas

Kansas City addressed its lack of wide receiver depth by getting the lightning-quick Worthy after trading up to No. 28 with the Buffalo Bills. Worthy caught 59 passes for 638 yards and six touchdowns and had three rushing TDs, showcasing his game-changing speed. His 157 receiving yards against the Philadelphia Eagles (albeit mostly in garbage time) is a Super Bowl rookie record.

Best draft pick: TBD. It’s too early to make a declaration, but Worthy is the overwhelming favorite given fourth-round safety Jaden Hicks was the only other major contributor.

2023 Kansas City Chiefs: Felix Anudike-Uzomah, EDGE, Kansas State

It hasn’t been a promising start for Anudike-Uzomah, who has just three sacks and 14 QB hits in limited playing time in two seasons. He’s a lower-end rotational pass rusher who’s not yet been able to average 20 snaps a game. Luckily for the Chiefs, George Karlaftis and Chris Jones are still the stars in the trenches.

Best draft pick: Rashee Rice. Prior to his season-ending knee injury in Week 4 of last year, the second-round receiver was well on his way to becoming Patrick Mahomes’ long-term top target. He was an immediate positive in their last championship season and should be pivotal in KC’s offense next season.

2022 Los Angeles Rams: Traded first-round pick for Matthew Stafford

When you give up multiple firsts for Matthew Stafford and he wins you a Super Bowl, you’ve made the right move. Having also traded second- and third-rounders for Von Miller midway through their championship season, LA’s first pick wasn’t until No. 104 overall in the third round, when they used on Wisconsin offensive lineman Logan Bruss. He tore his ACL as a rookie and placed on the practice squad the following year. Bruss didn’t even make his Rams debut until last season, during which he was waived and claimed by the Tennessee Titans.

Best draft pick: Kyren Williams. Their top pick is clearly running back Kyren Williams, who is coming off consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons and has been plus-value as a fifth-round pick.

2021 Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, EDGE, Washington

The Buccaneers went all-in on getting Tom Brady in free agency and it paid immediate dividends. They stayed at No. 32 in the 2021 draft and took Washington Huskies pass rusher Joe Tryon-Shoyinka. Tryon-Shoyinka recorded 15 sacks over four seasons but wasn’t a truly impactful pass rusher. He just signed with the Cleveland Browns in free agency.

Best draft pick: Tryon-Shoyinka. This is damning with feint praise, to be honest. Six of Tampa Bay’s seven-player class are no longer with the team, with quarterback Kyle Trask the last man standing after throwing 11 passes in four years.

2020 Kansas City Chiefs: Clyde Edwards-Helaire, RB, LSU

If there’s a real “What-if?” to explore with any of these defending champions, it’s the 2020 Chiefs. On the heels of their first title with Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid, Kansas City went with a bit of a luxury pick in Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who peaked as a rookie with 1,100 scrimmage yards and five touchdowns but quickly found himself battling injuries and the emergence of Isiah Pacheco. Jonathan Taylor went 10 picks after Edwards-Helaire, while the next pick after CEH was Tee Higgins. Ouch.

Best draft pick: L’Jarius Sneed. The fourth-round cornerback became an important part of Kansas City’s last two Super Bowl titles before he was traded to the Tennessee Titans.

2019 New England Patriots: N’Keal Harry, WR, Arizona State

Bill Belichick’s dubious track record with early-round wide receivers was on full display here. Harry only caught 57 regular season passes through three forgettable seasons in New England. Deebo Samuel and A.J. Brown were the next two receivers taken, and they famously traded their second-rounder to the Seattle Seahawks, who selected DK Metcalf.

Best draft pick: Damien Harris. This was a horrendous class emblematic of the Patriots’ waning talent in the last years of the Belichick era. The now-retired third-round pick had over 1,000 yards of total offense in 2021 and scored 15 touchdowns in New England’s most recent playoff season.

2018 Philadelphia Eagles: Traded out of the first round

After winning their first Lombardi Trophy, the Eagles moved out of Round 1 and paved the way for the Baltimore Ravens to select some fella named Lamar Jackson. They moved a little further up in the second round from No. 52 to No. 49 and drafted tight end Dallas Goedert, who has been a very solid player for the Eagles, albeit one who’s been subject to recent trade speculation.

Best draft pick: Jordan Mailata. Howie Roseman only made five picks in 2018. Three of them were Goedert, Josh Sweat (fourth round), and Mailata (seventh round). The former rugby player has become one of the best offensive tackles in the sport and is coming off an All-Pro second-team selection plus a Super Bowl ring.

2017 New England Patriots: Traded first-round pick for Brandin Cooks

This was a sparse draft for the Patriots, who had a league-low four picks largely due to offseason trades. They gave up a first- and third-rounder to the New Orleans Saints for the speedy receiver Brandin Cooks, who was traded to the Los Angeles Rams one season later. They also lost their second-rounder to the Carolina Panthers in a horrendous trade for Kony Ealy, who was waived later that August.

New England’s top pick was pass rusher Derek Rivers, selected at No. 83 in the third round. Injuries and ineffective play led to only 14 regular season appearances in four years before he was waived in the middle of the 2020 season.

Best draft pick: Deatrich Wise Jr. This is truly by default. Conor McDermott and Antonio Garcia never made the regular season roster. Wise was a wise fourth-round choice who became a very good defensive lineman over eight seasons, racking up 34 sacks before signing with the Washington Commanders this offseason.

2016 Denver Broncos: Paxton Lynch, QB, Memphis

Remember him? The Broncos needed a quarterback after noted Nationwide Insurance spokesman Peyton Manning retired as a two-time Super Bowl champion. They traded up from No. 31—the New England Patriots lost their first-rounder as Spygate punishment—to No. 26 with John Elway’s eyes firmly set on the 6’7 Paxton Lynch. The former Memphis star was due to be Manning’s heir apparent.

He could not beat out Trevor Siemian in training camp.

Lynch only made five appearances and four starts with the Broncos, winning just once. His stats weren’t horrendous—79 of 128 for 792 yards, four touchdowns, four interceptions, 18 sacks taken—but it was clear to the Broncos after just two seasons that he was not the franchise QB.

Best draft pick: Justin Simmons. It wasn’t a disastrous draft as a whole for Denver. All-Pro safety Justin Simmons was a third-round selection who played eight seasons with the Broncos and was one of the few bright spots throughout their (since broken) playoff drought.

2015 New England Patriots: Malcom Brown, DL, Texas

Having just won a Super Bowl with Malcolm Butler’s dramatic goal-line interception against the Seahawks, clearly the Patriots felt emboldened to take a defensive player named “Malco(l)m B” in the first round. While Brown did win two rings and earn PFWA All-Rookie honors, the former Texas star had a fairly unremarkable career and was not re-signed upon completion of his rookie contract.

Best draft pick: Shaq Mason. With all due respect to Joe Cordona, a long snapper who’s part of the Patriots’ All-Dynasty Team, positional value loses out here to Mason, a fourth-round pick who was one of the better guards in the NFL at the height of his seven-year Patriots career.

The last time a Super Bowl winner picked a Pro Bowl player in the first round of the ensuing draft was the 2005 New England Patriots, who sat at No. 32 and selected seven-time Pro Bowl selection Logan Mankins. The 2006 Pittsburgh Steelers get an honorable mention for moving up to No. 25 to draft Super Bowl 43 MVP Santonio Holmes, who never made a Pro Bowl.

All of this is to say that it shouldn’t be a shock if Howie Roseman and the Eagles doesn’t get an amazing draft haul this year. It seems like that’s just the natural cycle for a reigning Super Bowl champion.